Are You Just Gonna Stand There?
by TJ6
Summary: SPD: What is it going to take for Sky to realize how much his friends care about him? SkySyd with BridgeZ undertones
1. Chapter 1

_Alright, so I'm pretty sure this is just going to be a oneshot fic. If I get enough interest I might continue it, but the point was really just to get it out of my head so I could continue with my other stories._

_I've been watching PR:SPD and I love the characters, well most of them. I'm not a huge fan of either Z or Jack... so I just had to get this out._

* * *

"Sky?" the blue ranger looked up as Syd poked her head into the main control room. Rather than answering her, the tall brunette just grunted. "Nice to see you too."

"What are you doing here Sydney?"

"I thought you could use some company." The blonde replied settling herself on one of the surprisingly comfortable control room chairs.

"I'm on duty."

The pink clad girl shrugged "So?"

"So," Sky answered, checking the computers monitoring the city "I won't have time to entertain you. Why don't you go get some sleep? You'll need energy for training tomorrow."

"Ah, but see, I'm here to entertain you. I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep anyway, Z snores louder than Bridge does, if you can imagine that. Plus, you don't hang out with me anymore Sky…"

The blue ranger almost caved when Syd started pouting. Almost. "Syd-"

"I'm just worried about you. Bridge and I both are."

"Syd-"

"And I miss you- hanging out with you." Syd corrected herself hastily "I miss hanging out with you. You and Bridge are my best friends-"

"Sydney."

"Yeah?" She looked up at the older ranger, relieved that he had cut off her rambling.

"Stay."

"Okay." Sydney flashed Sky her million-dollar smile, which caused the usually cold and stoic ranger to melt a little inside. But just a little. "So what do you want to talk about?"

Sky just stared at her "Talk about?"

"Oh," Syd snapped her fingers and grinned slyly at her friend "I know… Okay, so I was hanging out with Bridge, when he had to go to the bathroom. So, I'm just sitting in your room, minding my own business, when the phone rings…" Sky started to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach as Syd continued her story. "So I answer the phone and it's some girl. At first I figure it's a wrong number, right? Cause if you had a girlfriend or something you would have told us, especially since Bridge and I are your best friends, and it wasn't. It was Regan. Your sister. How come you never told me you have a sister?"

"I-"

"Cause usually that's something best friends know about each other…"

"I-"

"You-"

"Sydney! Listen to me." Sydney stopped talking when Sky snapped at her. He reached over to grab her hand, but stopped when he saw the tears in her eyes. "Regan goes to boarding school in Switzerland."

"So that's a reason not to tell us about her?"

"When my parents died I did everything I possibly could to follow in my father's footsteps. My sister couldn't stand the thought of me becoming a ranger and literally following my father's footsteps so she left. We don't really talk, just on special occasions and stuff. It's too painful, for both of us." Sydney was about to speak again when Sky's watch beeped. "Shift's over. I'll see you tomorrow at training."

"Sky!" Sydney's voice followed the brunette down the hallway, but he didn't turn at the sound of her apologetic voice. "Sky! Why was yesterday a special occasion?"

Sky did turn when she asked the question "It was the anniversary of their death."

* * *

Except for training and actual rangering Sky managed to avoid Sydney for the rest of the week. It wasn't too difficult a task though, as Sydney was avoiding him as well.

Bridge was starting to worry about his two best friends, while he was sure Z and Jack didn't really notice a change in Sky he definitely could. He didn't even need to take off his protective gloves to feel the negative emotions rolling off his friend in waves. Sydney was obvious to all the rangers though and it was disconcerting to see the normally cheerful, perky blonde brooding.

It wasn't just the worrying that was affecting Bridge though. The green ranger was starting to feel the curse part of his 'psychic gift'. All the negative and painful feelings were starting to take their toll on him physically. Sky was keeping him up at night, all night, with his latent pain and Syd was taking her aggression out on him on the training mats.

After a particularly rough training session it was finally Z who called the more experienced cadets on their behavior. "What is wrong with you guys?" the youngest of the B squad demanded as she pulled a battered Bridge up from the mats.

"What are you talking about?" Sydney huffed, glaring at her roommate.

"What am I talking about?" the Hispanic girl was practically screaming in the pink ranger's face. "I'm talking about this!" She gestured towards Bridge "Look at what you two are doing to him!"

"I'm not doing anything to him." Sky denied stiffly, although he was sure he had something to do with his friend's worn appearance.

"You sure as hell are!"

The red ranger nodded his agreement and, in an unusual moment of insight, set a hand on Bridge's shoulder "You're broadcasting your feelings like a freaking satellite, man. Even I can feel it."

Sky looked at the green ranger, who just closed his eyes and turned his head rather than start another conflict. "And me?" Sydney asked quietly.

"Were you not just there for the particularly brutal beat down you just gave him?" Z asked in disbelief.

Sydney hung her head shamefully. "Bridge-"

"Just save it for now, Princess, I'm taking him to the infirmary. When you and blue boy figure out your problems come talk to the rest of us."

Sydney and Sky just watched as the yellow and red rangers led Bridge away. "I can't believe she called me Princess." Sydney said to herself quietly. "She knows how much I hate that."

Sky snorted "Typical."

"What?" Sydney asked heatedly.

"I said it was typical. Typical of you, an actual princess who gets everything her little heart desires, to worry more about getting called a name than her friend, who's on his way to the infirmary."

"You arrogant… egotistical… son of a bitch!" each insult was punctuated with a punch in the stomach.

Sky, surprised, began blocking her flurry of punches. "Sydney! What the hell are you-"?

"I can't believe you!" She spat, feigning a punch to his head only to roundhouse kick him in the side. "Here I am, all ready to spill all my feelings to you when your mysterious sister calls-" Sky grabbed her wrist and tried to twist it behind her back, only for Sydney to slip from his grasp and flip over his shoulder. She snap kicked him in the back before he could recover from his surprise.

"Feelings?"

Sydney tried to foot sweep him, to take his mind off her slip of the tongue "And then after I make a complete idiot of myself you start ignoring me… What am I… supposed… to think?"

Sky backed away as she began punching at him again. Finally, sick of being attacked, Sky swept her feet from under her and pinned her to the mats. "Sydney, what are you talking about?" Without thinking Sydney pulled his head down to hers and kissed him fiercely. When lack of oxygen became a problem Syd rolled Sky's heavy body off of her own and ran out of the room and towards the infirmary.

This time it was the blue ranger who watched as his teammate ran away.

* * *

When Sydney entered Bridge's room Z stood up from his bedside, ready to do battle again. "What are you doing here?" Z's voice was cold as ice and even Sydney's tears didn't phase her.

"Get out." Z did flinch at Syd's tone of voice. And she was really surprised when the pink ranger grabbed her and physically removed her from the room.

Bridge grinned tiredly from his hospital bed. "There's my Syd."

Sydney smiled tearfully and lay down in the bed next to him. She sniffed loudly and cuddled against her best friend when he wrapped his arms around her. "Bridge, I'm so sorry."

"Syd, it's okay…"

"No," she shook her head violently "It's not." The green ranger tried to pull away as Syd started taking off one of his gloves.

"Sydney-" his tone held more desperation than warning.

"Bridge, I want you to know."

"Syd I don't know-" he was cut off as she pulled the glove all the way off and gently touched his hand to her cheek. He was overwhelmed with her feelings: _Anger. Confusion. Love. Friendship. Regret. _"Those weren't all about me were they?"

Syd shook her head again and wished desperately that the tears would stop coming. "No."

"Sky."

Syd nodded. "I kissed him."

"What?" Bridge was floored.

"I kissed him."

"When?"

"A couple minutes ago. He was making me so mad and we were fighting… and I just kissed him."

"Syd-"

"I'm really confused." Bridge hugged his friend tightly when he heard how small her voice was. "I'm sorry I took my frustration out on you. I love you. You're my best friend."

"You're my best friend too, Syd."

"I was kicking Sky's ass." The blonde stated after a few moments silence.

Bridge laughed weakly as sleep started to take over the two of them. "I don't doubt it."

"What's going on with you and Z?"

The green ranger sat up, suddenly wide awake. "What?"

"Come on Bridge… It's pretty obvious you guys like each other."

The conversation stopped suddenly when it's main subject entered the room. "Am I interrupting?" She asked nonchalantly, but after Sydney's comment Bridge tried to focus on the younger girl's emotions. _Jealousy._

"Me and Bridge?" Sydney laughed "Please. I love him, but he's more like my little brother than anything." She turned to the bewildered green ranger, kissed his forehead, and winked knowingly at him "I'll be back to see you later."

Bridge nodded blankly and watched Z as she came forward to sit on the edge of his bed.

Sydney shook her head and chuckled at the two younger rangers. They were more obvious than she was.

* * *

Syd was sitting on her bed, clutching Peanuts her stuffed elephant, and staring blankly at the wall when a very confused Sky entered.

After Sydney had left him earlier- after the kiss- he had gone back to training. It's what he did best and it helped clear his mind, but this time even after pushing himself to the edge of exhaustion he didn't have any answers.

As she hadn't noticed him yet Sky stood in the doorway, just watching her. She was beautiful, with her golden blonde hair and cornflower blue eyes, but that wasn't all. It was the way she smiled at him, the way she said his name, the way she could make him laugh even when he was in his darkest moods, the way she could convince him to do something he would never do on his own… Sky shook his head at his own stupidity. Why had he never noticed he was in love with his best friend before?

"Are you just going to stand there," she asked, still staring at the wall "or are you going to come in?"

The usually confident blue ranger hesitantly stepped into Sydney and Z's room. "Syd?"

"If you're going to say it was a mistake, don't bother. I can't take it back, Sky, and if I could I wouldn't want to."

"Syd-"

"Sometimes you make me so mad, Schuyler Tate!" She shouted, throwing Peanuts onto her bed violently. Sky winced at the use of his full name, the only people to ever call him that had been his parents and once in awhile his sister.

"Syd-"

"How long have we known each other?" She demanded.

"A year and a half," he answered "but Syd-"

"A year and a half!" She threw her hands up in the air "And you haven't noticed in all that time how I've been pining for you?"

"Sydney-"

But she wasn't in the mood to listen to him. Sky watched half amused half frustrated, as she started pacing back and forth. "I just, I'm sorry. I'm sorry about your sister and yelling at you and about your parents… I've just been in love with you so long that it hurt like hell when I realized that I hardly know anything about you. I-"

"Sydney." She finally stopped rambling when he pulled her roughly against himself and kissed her just as passionately as she had kissed him earlier.

"Whoa."

"Yeah." Sky leaned down and rested his forehead against hers. "So, you're in love with me?"

"I-"

"No going back." He reminded her, tightening the arms he had wrapped about her waist.

She sighed. "Yeah."

"Good." He leaned down and kissed her again. Sweetly this time.

She drew away frowning, "Good?"

Sky smiled at her. Genuinely. It was something she'd never really seen before. And it was certainly never something she'd caused. "Good." He repeated. "Cause I'm pretty sure I love you too."

"You?" The blonde asked incredulously "Love me?"

Sky nodded "I'm sorry it took me this long to figure it out."

Sydney laughed and drew him down to her "At least you do did." She kissed him again. "I had to practically throw Z in Bridge's face."

"Z and Bridge?" Sky asked, shocked.

Sydney rolled her eyes and kissed him again. "Mmmhmm…" The two were so lost in each other that they didn't notice when the door slid open.

"Whoa!" Jack, Z, and a now slightly better Bridge stood in the doorway.

Syd groaned and buried her blushing face in Sky's chest. While the blue ranger cleared his throat and glared at the others. "Can we help you?"

"Bad timing." Z whispered in Bridge's ear. It was only then that Sky realized that the two were holding hands. The brunette raised a questioning eyebrow at the green ranger, who blushed in response.

"We were just coming to get Syd. We thought she might know where you were…"

"Cruger wants to see us."

* * *

The five B squad rangers stood at attention in front of Commander Cruger. The extraterrestrial couldn't help but notice the close proximity of the blue and pink rangers and struggled to hide his grin of approval. "I have someone I'd like to introduce you to. This," the doors slid open and revealed a dramatically posed figure clad in white and blue spandex armor. "Is the Omega Ranger." 


	2. Chapter 2

_Alright, so why more feedback than I expected, so thanks. I've got chapter three all thought up if this one is well received. For now, on with part two!_

* * *

The B Squad rangers looked from the new ranger to Cruger and back again. Sky, as usual, was the first to recover from his shock. "The Omega Ranger?"

The dog-like alien nodded and motioned the aforementioned ranger forward. "Yes, since the A Squad went missing Dr. Manx has been experimenting with new powers."

"I thought you could use some help." The doctor added.

"Why?" Sky asked with more than a little hostility in his voice. "We're doing fine."

Cruger looked at the blue ranger disapprovingly "Since you let Gruumm get those diamonds his creatures have been getting stronger. You're getting help, whether you think you need it or not."

Sky clenched his fists, but relaxed slightly when Sydney placed a comforting hand on his arm. "Yes sir."

SPD's Commander removed his glare from Sky and turned towards the Omega Ranger. "You may power down. Cadets' Tate, Drew, and Carson will give you a tour of the facilities after the debriefing."

The Omega Ranger nodded and did as Cruger instructed. The 5 B Squad members watched, eager to see who it would be. Sky shook his head in disapproval, another stranger. The new ranger stood at about 6'2", with shaggy light blonde hair, and piercing blue eyes. He was dressed as a surfer, which was unusual in New Tech City, wearing blue board shorts covered in red stylized hibiscus flowers, a long sleeved white shirt underneath a blue t-shirt, which advertised for some place called Storm Chargers, a white pooka shell necklace, and red flip-flops.

Sky, Bridge, Z, and Jack were all surprised as Syd let out an ear-piercing shriek. "Ryder?"

Both blondes laughed as Sydney launched herself into the man's arms. "Syd?" Bridge asked hesitantly.

"Oh," Syd turned towards her friends "Guys, this is Ryder Bradley, my oldest friend."

"You're older than me, Syd." Ryder nudged the petite girl with his hip. "You guys can call me Ry."

Sky glared at the two blondes before returning his attention to Commander Cruger. "Whatever…"

Bridge looked over at the blue ranger with a frown on his face. Sky was broadcasting again: _Confusion. Pain. Jealousy. Hate._The green ranger leaned over to whisper into Z's ear. "This isn't good."

The short Latina looked at him, confused. "What-"

"Ahem." Cruger cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention. "Now, as I was saying…"

* * *

"Cadet Delgado, Cadet Landors, may I speak with you a moment?" The yellow and red rangers nodded their response. Then the blue alien looked at the people remaining in the lab. "The rest of you are dismissed. Cadet Drew, I trust you and the rest of A Squad will make our guest comfortable?"

Sydney nodded exuberantly, and then grabbed Ryder's hand leading him from the main control room. "Come on Ry, there's so much I want to show you-"

Z watched as the metal doors slid shut before turning nervously to Cruger. "What's up?" Jack asked their commanding officer.

"It's about your community service."

The two rangers exchanged surprised glances; this wasn't what they had been expecting. "What about it?"

"Well…"

* * *

"This is the mess hall." Syd gestured proudly around the large spotless room they were in. "It's a little more impressive when there's food though… We've got a really good chef."

"Better than my dad?" Ryder cocked an eyebrow at his friend.

The pink ranger laughed and playfully pushed the surfer. "Nobody's better than your dad."

Sky felt his chest tighten as the two bantered back and forth. This was more than he could take. He had to get out of there. Fast. He glanced at Bridge, who nodded, and without a word he silently left the mess hall. "So where do you guys train?" Bridge turned his attention back to the pink and Omega rangers.

"There's an outside training field and the simulation rooms in the basement, but Sky should really show you those. He knows them inside and out. He's the best fighter at SPD." Syd grinned proudly as she praised the blue ranger. "Where is Sky anyway?" she asked, realizing the brunette was missing. She looked over at Bridge, who was frowning.

"He had to… go." The green ranger said lamely. He never was a good liar. "You know Sky though, he's like that…" Bridge said to the newest ranger. "If he's not the center of attention he bails… He's probably training, or running. Sometimes he runs to clear his head, you know. Or maybe he's not training at all. Maybe he went back to our room-"

Sydney held up a hand, halting Bridge's rambling. "Slow down, Bridge. Take a breath."

Ryder just shook his head, unable to comprehend how much had spewed from the green ranger's mouth in such a short time. "Was that even words?"

Bridge blushed slightly, "Sorry, I get carried away sometimes. Everyone in my family rambles-"

Sydney shook her head and was relieved when Z and Jack entered the room. "Thank God." She groaned causing Bridge to turn even redder. "What did Cruger want with you guys?"

"It was about our community service." Jack said helping himself to an apple. Fruit was one of the things often left out in the mess hall; it was good for them, or some nonsense like that.

"I thought you guys were almost done." Bridge said, confused and a little pleased when Z greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.

"We were." Jack said, glaring at his younger female counter-part. "But Cruger found out that we cheated."

"Cheated?" Syd asked, "How did you do that?" She regretted asking the question a few seconds later, when 30 Z's appeared around the room.

"At first I just replicated." It was a little disconcerting when the 30 yellow rangers spoke at once. "But it wasn't going fast enough," suddenly 29 Z's disappeared, leaving only the one clutching Bridge's hand. "And I was getting bored."

"So…" Syd prodded.

"So she rounded up a bunch of our old… contacts…" Jack grinned, "and convinced them to do it."

"Contacts?" Bridge asked, clueless. His eyes widened as realization dawned. "Oh… you mean criminals."

"I wouldn't call them criminals." Z huffed.

"Would you call you and Jack criminals?" the pink ranger asked.

"No."

"Therefore, criminals."

Z glared at the other female ranger, "Where's Sky?" Sydney shrugged, while Bridge shot her a warning glance. "Sorry I asked." She muttered to herself. Bridge squeezed her hand and Jack grinned at his friend.

"Where to next?" Ryder asked suddenly. Inwardly shaking his head at the group dynamic. They were just like his parents and their friends; all rangers were alike, he supposed.

* * *

Sky pounded his fists into the freestanding punching bag over and over; he stopped and cursed when the skin on his knuckles split, again. "Dammit!" He looked around for something to wrap his hand in. Nothing.

He was still standing next to the bag, blood dripping from his hand and pooling on the floor, when Jack entered the training room. "What happened to you?"

Sky groaned: Jack one of the many people he didn't want to deal with. "Nothing." He finally gave up his fruitless search and wiped his bleeding hand on his sweaty t-shirt.

"Whatever." The red ranger bent over and removed his shoes. "Are you just gonna stand there?"

"What?"

Jack motioned to where Sky was standing, right in front of the punching bag. "Are you just gonna stand there," he repeated, "or can I use the bag?"

Sky flexed his fingers experimentally and swore in his head when the bleeding started again. "I'm using this room, there's plenty of others, go somewhere else."

The red ranger grinned mischievously and cracked his knuckles, "You know, I don't think I will. I'm already here and I'm the red ranger, why don't you go somewhere else?"

Sky growled under his breath "Why don't you kiss my ass?"

"Now, now," Jack wagged a finger in Sky's face "Such language, and to a superior officer…" Sky growled, out loud this time, and lunged at the African-American. Jack grinned as the taunting did its intended job; a good fight was what both of them needed. He easily dodged Sky's wild attack. "Gonna have to do better than that, **blue **ranger."

Sky bared his teeth at the red ranger and jumped up, executing a flawless tornado kick. "I'll show you what a **blue **ranger can do."

Jack flipped backwards, narrowly avoiding the powerful kick and countered with a strong roundhouse kick of his own. He caught the blue ranger in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards. Sky recovered quickly and retaliated with a flurry of punches to Jack's torso. "Ugh…" The red ranger hit the ground hard. "Jesus," he rolled away from an advancing Sky and jumped to his feet "Chill out Sky." The blue ranger clearly wasn't listening as he sent a devastating front kick Jack's way. "Sky!" The red ranger had to use his powers, to sink into the wall behind him, to avoid the blow. "What the hell, man?"

Sky shook his head angrily and walked back to the punching bag. He hit the piece of equipment hard enough to send it crashing into the wall. He didn't look back as Jack re-materialized. "I gotta go." He muttered to the red ranger. "I'll see you later." He was about to leave when the 'tour group' appeared in the doorway.

"Sky," Syd said happily "there you are. We were just-" She stopped talking as Sky wordlessly pushed past her. "Sky?"

It was then that Z noticed Jack slumped against the wall. "Oh my God! Jack, are you okay?"

The red ranger groaned and clutched what he was sure was a bruised rib. "It's my fault." He coughed. "I," He winced as he straightened up against the wall, "provoked him." He smiled gratefully at Z as she rushed to his side. "Thanks Lizzy."

The Latina didn't even bother to reprimand her adoptive brother for addressing her by one of her most hated nicknames. "Come on, Jack, let's go." Syd didn't say anything as she went to support Jack's other side.

The three left Bridge and Ryder standing awkwardly in the training room. "So," Ryder asked slowly, taking in Bridge's own bruises "does this happen often around here?"

"Lately? Yeah. Pretty soon Gruumm's not going to have any trouble taking over the world. We're going to take ourselves out…"

Ryder shook his head "Go, I'll find my way back to my room." Bridge looked at the Omega ranger questioningly. "I know you want to see how he is."

"I thought I was the psychic around here…" the brunette muttered to himself.

"You are." Ryder grinned, "I'm a water ninja, I'm kind of attuned to emotions and stuff." He shrugged sheepishly "I get it from my mom."

Bridge grinned at the new ranger. "Thanks, man. You sure you'll find your way back?"

"Yeah." Ryder waved a hand dismissively "Get gone."

* * *

Sky looked up as his door slid open, he scowled as he saw that it was Ryder. "What do you want?" he asked the blonde coldly.

Ryder shrugged "Honestly? I thought this was my room, but since you're here I might as well tell you that you did a good job kicking Jack's ass."

"What?"

"Oh yeah," the blonde said entering the room, "looks like a few bruised ribs at the very least."

Sky carefully placed the picture he had been clutching on his bedside table before looking up at the Omega ranger. The look in the blue ranger's eyes could've frozen even the coldest of men. "Get out."

Ryder was about to leave when he caught sight of the photo Sky had placed on the table. "That your dad?"

"Why?" Sky narrowed his eyes at his new teammate.

"We may have more in common than you think."

"Whatever." The blue ranger muttered lying back in his bed. He was interrupted a few minutes later when his bedroom door slid open again. "I thought I told you to get out-" He stopped when he saw it was Syd standing in the doorway.

Sydney looked at him with a mixture of shock and hurt in her eyes. "I can leave if you want me to…"

"No," Sky said, letting his head fall back onto his pillow. "I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else."

"Who? Jack?" The pink ranger sat on the edge of Sky's bed and ran a hand through the brunette's hair. "What's going on with you? You were fine a few hours ago."

Sky leaned into Syd's hand, "It's nothing, Syd, don't worry about me."

Syd opened her mouth, but was cut off by the Academy's sirens. "B SQUAD PLEASE REPORT TO THE ZORD BAY IMMEDIATELY."

"Let's go." Sky said, suddenly alert. Syd shook her head and followed the blue ranger down the hallway; she thought they were past this point.


	3. Chapter 3

_Alright, installment number three. There's been some speculation as to Ryder's parentage. All will be revealed, as will Sydney and Ryder's true relationship... Thank you for the reviews. Drop me a line if you like this chapter and I'll get started on chapter number 4._

* * *

When they returned to SPD headquarters the six rangers were exhausted, but they had been successful. Bridge, Jack, and Sky came out the worst of the lot. The first two, because of previous injuries, and Sky because he had taken the brunt of the entire battle.

**FLASHBACK**

"Stop, SPD!" Sky stepped forward as the rest of the team hung back. Cruger had kept Ryder back the Academy, a surprise for Gruumm should they need him. The creature let out a demented, mechanical laugh and fired a red laser beam at the rangers. "Guess we do this the hard way." Sky growled, pushing himself off the ground. "You guys ready?" He didn't wait for an answer as he rushed the monster. He pulled out his Patrol Baton and used it sword-style to slash at the monster's torso.

"Sky!" Syd watched as the robotic creature grabbed the blade of Sky's Patrol Baton and wrenched it from his hand. It laughed as Sky flew into the side of a nearby building; his weapon was thrown in the opposite direction. Sydney pulled out her own weapon and fired at it.

The monstersparked and it fell back slightly as the beams cut into its chest. Then it laughed again, maniacally, and fired back at the four standing rangers. Sydney, Bridge, and Z managed to jump out of the way with no problems, but Jack, due to his four bruised ribs and a stretched ligament in his knee, was having some trouble. The red ranger stared at the powerful red energy as it barreled down on him. His muscles tensed and Jack braced himself for impact when he felt himself flying through the air. He managed to turn just in time to see Sky take the entire blast in the chest. "Sky!"

Sky felt his suit dissipate around him and coughed violently. He winced when he saw the blood and spit, to get the coppery taste out of his mouth. "Ugh…" He got to his feet, weakly, and turned to face the monster again. He pulled out his SPD morpher and became the blue ranger once again. He felt, rather than saw, his teammates gather behind him.

"Sky," Sydney asked worriedly "Are you-"

"I'm fine." He snapped, "Let's just get this guy to Headquarters."

Sydney nodded, despite being slightly hurt by his tone of voice, as did the others. "Let's do it." Bridge said grimly, sliding into a fighting stance.

The five power rangers attempted to attack the robot simultaneously when he released the Krybots. "Dammit," Sky swore under his breath. "This keeps getting better and better."

With Sky, Jack, and Bridge injured the rangers were barely able to defeat the Krybots. "I think we need some help." Jack wheezed, clutching his ribs in pain.

Though he couldn't see it Sky scowled at the red ranger. "We don't need-" He wasn't able to finish his sentence as Gruumm's mercenary shot him in the back. He fell to his knees with a pained gasp. He felt his suit disappear again before everything went black.

"Sky!" Sydney rushed over to the unconscious blue ranger and dropped to her knees. After feeling for his pulse and checking his breathing she trained a fiery glare on the monster. "You'll pay."

The conscious rangers were taken aback by Sydney's steely voice, but the monster just laughed. "I hope you do better than your boyfriend, pretty pink ranger." Syd growled and started to charge the creature, when everyone's attention was drawn upwards.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

Z rolled her eyes as the Omega ranger flipped from the top of the building, where he was standing, and landed right in front of Sydney."That was lame, Ry."

Ryder just shrugged, before pulling a sword from the sheath at his side. "Let's finish this."

Sky woke up just in time to see Ryder trap the creature in a containment card.

**END FLASHBACK**

"Dismissed!" Sky looked at Cruger, surprised that he had spaced out for the entire debriefing. He saluted his commander as was about to leave when Cruger called him back. "Cadet Tate! A word?"

Sky regretted it as soon as he nodded, as his head started to pound once again. "Shit." He muttered it quietly enough that even Cruger's advanced hearing couldn't pick it up and raised a hand to his forehead. As if touching it would make the hurt go away…

"I understand," The big blue dog began his lecture as soon as everyone else had vacated the room. "That you're the reason for Cadet Landors' condition."

"Yes sir." Sky responded emotionlessly.

"There's a good reason for it I suppose?"

"No sir." Sky responded, realizing that he should have been able to control his temper despite the provocation. "Jack happened in on my training and offered to spar with me. Things got out of hand."

"I see." Cruger looked appraisingly at the blue ranger. He was putting all his weight on his left side and breathing shallowly. There were scrapes all over one side of his face and his right eye was swelled shut. The commander noticed Sky's bruised and scraped knuckles, but had a sneaking suspicion that that particular injury hadn't happened during battle. "You're dismissed Cadet."

Normally Sky wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but the lack of punishment confused him. "Sir?"

"Dismissed, Cadet Tate. Please go to the infirmary and have Dr. Kushner check you out." Cruger's voice brooked no argument, so Sky saluted and quickly left the room.

"Why didn't he get some sort of punishment?" Dr. Manx asked curiously.

"I hadn't realized you were here, Doctor." The complete lack of surprise in his voice completely contradicted his sentence though.

Kat rolled her eyes "That doesn't answer my question Anubis."

"Did you see the condition he was in?" Kat winced and nodded. "I believe the next few days will be punishment enough for him, especially if Dr. Kushner declares him unable to participate in training. Besides, this is Schuyler Tate we're talking about."

Dr. Manx smiled wryly "I suppose you're right, as always."

* * *

"Sky?" The blue ranger sat up gracelessly as Syd entered the infirmary.

"Hey Syd."

"Are you okay?" She asked tearfully, rushing to his bedside.

"Yeah." he winced as she lay a hand on his bruised chest.

Syd drew her hand away at the look of pain on his face. "I was so worried about you." She admitted, crying freely.

"You were?" Sky asked, lifting his less injured left hand to cup her cheek. She nodded, treasuring the uncharacteristic show of affection.

"Of course I was. Don't ever do that again!"

Sky chuckled, but it soon turned into a hacking cough. "I can't promise anything." He said honestly.

"Sky-"

Sky cut off the pink ranger by drawing her face down for a soft kiss, despite the painful cut on his lower lip. He scooted over awkwardly, making room for Sydney next to him. He leaned against his pillows and smiled as Syd laid her head on his uninjured stomach. "I'll be more careful." He vowed.

Syd smiled, she knew that was the best she would get from him, and barely moving kissed his stomach. "Good enough."

Without thinking Sky began running his fingers through Sydney's hair, lulling the blonde to sleep. Her rhythmic breathing had him following her into unconsciousness moments later.

* * *

Sky woke late the next morning, which was unusual for him. He smiled to himself when he realized that Syd was still cuddled tightly against his side. "Syd," he nudged her shoulder gently "Sydney, it's time to wake up."

"Huh?" the blonde stirred slowly. Her voice was husky eyes were hazy with sleep. "Sky?" she asked, rubbing her cheek against his stomach dreamily.

"Yeah. Wake up, sweetheart."

"What're you doing here?"

"You're in my bed, Syd." he smirked at the lethargic pink ranger. She wasn't a morning person.

"I'm what?"

Sky laughed as she sprang from the bed. "Relax, Princess, you just fell asleep when you came to visit me last night."

"Don't call me Princess."

Sky smirked at her "You're going to be late for training."

"What?" She looked around the room frantically, looking for a clock. "It's 10 o'clock? Crap! I'm so late!" Sky almost laughed as she practically ran out the infirmary doors. He closed his eyes to go back to sleep, the painkillers Dr. Kushner had prescribed him were strong little buggers, when Syd poked her head back into the room. "Sky?"

"Hmm?" Sky could barely open his eyes.

"Aren't you coming?"

"Can't," the blue ranger scowled tiredly at Dr. Kushner's door "Internal bleeding." He yawned loudly "I'm 'not fit enough' for training."

"Okay," Syd smiled at the usually tough blue ranger and smoothed a stray piece of his hair back before kissing him lightly on the forehead. "I'll come see you when training's done."

"Okay." Sky's response was barely a whisper, as he retreated back into the land of dreams.

"I love you." She whispered and kissed his forehead again before running out of the room again. She was going to be really late now. Then she smiled, he had called her sweetheart.

* * *

Syd was completely out of breath when she reached the other rangers in the training fields outside of SPD Headquarters. "Sorry I'm late, guys."

Z raised an eyebrow at the panting pink ranger. "Where have you been?"

"Yeah," Ryder added, always looking for a way to make Syd annoyed "Aren't those the same clothes you were wearing yesterday?"

"It's a uniform, Ryder." She said, glaring at the other blonde "I wear it everyday."

"Whatever you say, Kitten."

"Kitten?" Jack asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.

"It's a long story." She huffed. Then she glanced between Jack and Z and raised her own eyebrows at them. "Has anyone ever told you guys that you look eerily alike when you do that?"

"Ah, ah Princess." Z said, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're not getting out of it that easily."

"Shouldn't we start training?" Bridge asked. He was starting to get a headache from all the tension.

"But Syd never came back to our room last night!" Z blurted out.

Syd clenched her fists and glared at the yellow ranger. "What?" Bridge asked incredulously, training forgotten. "Syd-"

"Dad's gonna kill you!"

Sydney turned her glare from Z to Ryder "Don't you dare tell Uncle Hunter!"

Ryder shook his head "Sydney-"

"I fell asleep in the infirmary." She said, exasperated with her fellow rangers. "I was just making sure Sky was okay. There's no need to drag anyone else into this." With a final glare to Ryder Sydney stomped off, towards the elaborate obstacle course they were supposed to be training on.

"Uncle Hunter?" Bridge asked Ryder curiously, though he didn't bother to take his worried eyes off of Sydney's retreating figure. "I thought you guys were just friends."

"We are friends." Ryder shrugged "But we're cousin's too. Our moms are sisters."

"Oh."

* * *

Sky glanced anxiously at the clock on the wall. 3:30. "Can I get out of here soon?" he asked impatiently as Dr. Kushner entered the room.

The elderly Indian man shook his head. Sky Tate was one of the most irritating patients he'd ever had. "You're more like your father than you know."

Sky's eyes darkened with emotion for a moment, before returning to their normal icy expression. "Can I get out of here or what?"

"You've got two fractured ribs, internal bleeding, and first degree burns on you back, not to mention all the cuts and bruises. What do you think Mr. Tate?" Sky grunted as the doctor handed him some more painkillers. "Take these. I'll be back to check on you later."

Sky grunted in frustration, but quickly swallowed the pills. He was in more pain than he wanted to let on. "Are you guys just gonna stand there or are you gonna come in?" Sky asked a few minutes later, as he heard his fellow rangers just outside his door.

"Hey, man." Jack said as he, Bridge, and Z entered Sky's hospital room. "How ya feeling?"

"Been better," Sky shrugged indifferently "been worse too."

"Worse?" Z asked. He looked pretty bad to her.

Sky nodded wordlessly, he didn't want to talk about it. "Where's Sydney?"

"She and Ry are probably still going at it." Z shrugged.

Sky looked questioningly at her, then at Bridge when she didn't answer. "What?"

"They got into a pretty huge fight. She was pissedwhen Z mentioned that she never went back to their room last night."

Sky glared at the yellow ranger "She was checking on me. We fell asleep."

"That's what she said."

"That's what happened. Look guys," Sky said, pretty pissed off himself, "I'm kinda tired. The doc just gave me these pills… I'll talk to you later."

The three rangers nodded and left quietly. Sky was actually starting to fall asleep again when Jack came back into the room. "Sky?"

"What do you want Jack?" He was pissed, sore, and just wanted to go to sleep.

"Thanks… for, you know."

Sky nodded, a little surprised that the red ranger would bring it up. "Yeah, well…"

"Alright," the red ranger nodded "I'll let you sleep…" Jack was about to leave when he looked at the beaten up Sky again. "Sky?"

"What Jack?"

"I just thought you might want to know that Sydney and Ryder are cousins."


	4. Chapter 4

_I'm sorry for the delay, but here it is, the fourth and final chapter. I'm not one hundred per cent happy with it, but I like where it ended._

_Thanks to everyone for the fabulous reviews, this is the first story I've ever actually finished and it's definitly your doing. Please review this last chapter. I'm dying to know what you think!_

* * *

Sky thanked God everyday for advanced ranger healing. A week and a half had passed, and despite some nasty looking bruises and a fresh scar on his back his injuries had mostly healed.

He couldn't say he'd used his downtime productively though. Without any kind of physical activity, all the blue ranger could do was think, and over-analyze, and brood…

He knew Sydney and Ryder were cousins. Jack had told him, Bridge had told him, hell, even Syd had told him. But he couldn't help but notice how different she acted with him. They were always laughing at some kind of inside joke or hugging or… Well, the laughing and the hugging was enough to set him on edge.

"Sky?"

Sky looked up at Dr. Kushner, who was watching him, concerned. "Huh? Sorry, what?"

"I was telling you that you're free to go."

"Really?"

The doctor nodded "I want to see you back here if your ribs pain you at all."

"No offense Doc," the ranger said stretching tentatively, "but I hope not to come back here for a long time."

The Indian man glared at him "Sky-"

"Fine. I promise."

Dr. Kushner nodded again. "Be careful out there Mr. Tate."

Sky inclined his head "Thanks Doc."

* * *

"Cadet Tate."

Sky saluted as he entered Cruger's office "Commander. I just wanted to let you know that Dr. Kushner cleared me for duty."

Cruger looked at Sky skeptically "He did?"

"Yes sir." Sky nodded. He handed Cruger a note the doctor had given him. "He said I'd have to be on light duty for awhile…" His voice trailed off as his commanding officer began to smile.

Cruger nodded, the smile lingering on his lips. "Thank you, cadet."

"Sir?"

"You're dismissed."

"Yes sir." Sky saluted and left the office wondering just what the hell was on that note…

* * *

"Sky?" The blue ranger turned at the sound of Sydney's voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm out." He answered simply.

"For real?" He nodded. He was shocked when the pink ranger let out a little squeal and launched herself at him. He let out an involuntary gasp of pain as she clung tightly to him, bruises and all, but shook his head when she asked if she'd hurt him. He liked the feeling of the blonde wrapped around him. "So are you coming to training?"

He nodded bitterly "Only to watch. Doc said I'd have to be on light duty for a while."

"Oh," Sydney smiled, despite his natural grumpiness, and looped her arm through his "well, we're about to start. Walk me there?"

He was going to say no… He was going to say he had other things to do… He was going tosay plenty of things before he looked down into her blue eyes. "Okay."

Syd kept up a steady stream of chatter the entire way to the simulation room. He knew that she, unlike him, didn't like silence much.

* * *

Bridge felt his roommate coming a mile away. _Resignation. Adoration. Resentment… _"Great." He mumbled to himself. As much as he liked Sky, and he did, he'dactually been able to sleep for the last ten days.

"What's that?"

Bridge looked over at Ryder, who'd asked the question. "Nothing."

Ryder looked at the green ranger skeptically, but was drawn away by the appearance of his cousin. "Look who I brought!" She stepped into the room, revealing Sky standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"Sky." Z smiled tentatively at the blue ranger. "You're out."

Sky barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the obviousness of Z's comment. "Yeah."

"Are you going to be training?"

"No." _Frustration. Restlessness._

"He's on light duty." Syd smiled faintly, patting Sky's arm. This time Sky did roll his eyes.

"Yeah." He said again.

"Well, Kitten," Ryder grinned at his cousin and stretched out his arms. "Are you just gonna stand there with Mr. Monosyllabic or are you gonna spar with me?"

Sydney shook her head at the other blonde. "Give me a minute." She turned to Sky. "Are you going to stay?"

"No." the blue ranger shook his head. _Impatience. _"I've got some stuff to do." _Jealousy. _"I'll see you later." _Anger._

Bridge sighed as Sky left. His friend definitely had some issues.

Sydney frowned as she watched Sky leave. Something was wrong.

* * *

Sky winced as he finished going through his physical therapy workout. The last three weeks of inactivity had definitely taken a toll on him. He grunted as he placed the weights on the ground. He sat in a hunched over position and watched as sweat dripped from his forehead to a growing pool on the floor. Wasn't this love thing supposed to be easy? He had told her how he felt and for some unknown reason she felt the same… wasn't he supposed to be happy now? It wasn't like he expected hearts and roses and little cherubs to float along behind him… well maybe he was expecting something like that… He let out a frustrated groan and lay back on the workout bench. How had he let his life get shot to hell like this? He didn't look up as someone entered the room. He didn't have to. He knew it was Bridge.

The green ranger sat down heavily and rubbed at his bleary, bloodshot eyes. "You look like hell." Sky commented, without looking at his friend.

Bridge smiled weakly and reclined to the same position as his teammate. "Yeah well… It's your fault."

"My fault?" Sky asked, quirking up one eyebrow.

"I can't sleep."

"How's that my fault?" _Confusion._

Both of the rangers got up and rested their weight on their elbows, almost simultaneously. "How've you been feeling lately, Sky?"

_Realization. Guilt. _"I-"

Bridge smiled tiredly at his friend. "It's not your fault."

"But-"

Bridge stood up suddenly and cast Sky another tired grin. "Just… talk to Syd. She hasn't been feeling too great either." Sky could only watch as Bridge walked away. Sometimes he forgot that his roommate wasn't only a psychic he was a genius too.

* * *

"Sky!"

Sky turned as his name was called. "Syd?"

The blonde hurried towards him, apologizing profusely to several cadets as she bumped into them. "Sky. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uh," He cleared his throat, "Sure. Actually, I was just looking for you…"

"Okay, um, why don't we go in there?" She motioned to one of the training rooms, at this time of the daythey were usually pretty deserted.

"Okay." The blue ranger followed her into the empty room. "What's up?" He asked as the door slid shut behind him.

"Well-"

"B SQUAD PLEASE REPORT TO THE ZORD BAY IMMEDIATELY"

Syd sighed in frustration. Why did that always happen when she was about to talk to him?

* * *

Sky grinned to himself as he flew his delta runner to the crime scene. He hadn't been allowed to morph for three weeks; it felt good to be in uniform again.

"You guys ready to form the Megazord?" Jack's voice crackled through the communication system.

Sky heard the others answer and he nodded, though no one could see him. "Let's do it."

It didn't take long to defeat the creature with the megazord. They were dealt a few blows, sure, but it was nothing they couldn't handle.

The trouble came when they tried to apprehend the monster. It was odd, first of all what would have been the final blow hadn't killed the monster, as usual. Instead the feline creature had shrunk down to its normal size… "It's trying to lure us out of the zord." Sky deduced.

"What else can we do?" Jack asked.

"I say we squash it." The yellow ranger suggested, grinning wickedly.

"We can't do that." Sky said shaking his head.

"Why not?"

"Civilians." Bridge answered, feeling their terror.

"It's a trap." Sky informed the other rangers.

"We have to get down there." Jack announced, "We're wasting time."

Sky shook his head, but launched himself out of the megazord along with his teammates. They all landed on their feet, facing the cat-monster. "We won." Z announced, cocking her head to one side. "What's the deal?"

The monster growled and called forth a huge patrol of Krybots. "Ugh." Bridge groaned. "Haven't we seen enough of these guys?"

Jack pulled out his morpher and called SPD Command. "Commander, I think we're going to need Ryder on this one."

"He's on his way." Commander Cruger responded curtly.

Jack nodded and turned to Bridge "What do you say we have some fun?" Bridge nodded and the two called for their motorcycles.

Sky looked at Syd and Z. "You guys ready?" The two girls nodded at him. And Sky turned back to the rapidly approaching Krybots. "Let's do it then."

* * *

It seemed like they just kept coming, as many as they took out it seemed like two or three took their place. Things got a little better when Ryder showed up, but only a little. "Someone's got to take out the cat!" Syd grunted as it took a shot at her.

Sky backhanded the Krybot trying to sneak up on him and called out to Jack and Bridge. "Distract him!" He flipped over the head of another Krybot as it tried to rush him and rammed his elbow into what would have been its neck. "I'll contain it!"

The two nodded and began firing at the monster. As it turned away from him Sky held up his morpher "Judgment Mode!"

After that it kind of blurred together. There was a scream. He was pushed to the ground. Sparks were everywhere…

* * *

When he woke up he was in the infirmary again. He shifted slightly and groaned when he felt a familiar pain in his ribs. "Not again." He groaned and flopped back onto the bed.

"Nice to see you too, Mr. Tate." Sky groaned again as Dr. Kushner addressed him. "Not to worry," The doctor chuckled "We were just keeping an eye on you until you regained consciousness."

"What happened?"

"You hit your head when Syd pushed you out of the way."

Sky looked over at the voice. And was shocked to see Ryder standing there, bare-chested, except for the bandages. "What happened to you?"

The 17 year old shrugged, then winced at the pain the motion caused. "I got hit. We're supposed to go to the debriefing." The blonde said, shrugging on his shirt. "If you're ready?"

Sky sat up slowly, and carefully got out of bed. He twisted his back until he heard a satisfactory pop and turned back to the Omega ranger. "Let's go."

* * *

"Sky!"

The blue ranger shook his head at Sydney, there would be plenty of time for that later… He definitely didn't feel like showing his emotional side. Especially in front of Commander Cruger.

Cruger nodded at Ryder and Sky as they saluted him. "Congratulations, team, and Cadet Delgado, for containing the monster. Gruumm won't take this defeat well, I'm afraid. So we'll have to be prepared. If there's nothing else?" Sky and the rest of the rangers shook their heads. "Alright then, you're dismissed."

The rangers filed out of the room and Bridge sighed. _Confusion._ "Sky," Sydney tugged on the blue ranger's hand. "Can we talk now?"

"Yeah." He nodded distractedly, and let Sydney drag him behind her. He waited until she had pulled him into her, and Z's, room to ask the question that had been gnawing at him. "Before you say anything," He held up a hand, effectively cutting the blonde off. "What happened today?"

"You don't remember?"

Sky shook his head "I remember a scream, then somebody pushed me, your cousin said that was you," Syd nodded, "Then I hit my head. I don't remember anything past that."

"There's probably a video of the battle somewhere." Syd mused. Then she snapped her fingers and pulled out her morpher. "Bridge."

"Yeah?"

"Could you send R.I.C. to my room?"

"Sure, but why-"

"I'll explain later." She put her morpher back into pocket and turned to Sky.

"So, what did you-"

"What's wrong with you?" Syd demanded.

"What?"

"What's wrong with you?" she repeated.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're avoiding me. You hate my cousin for some reason. You're training 24 hours a day and keeping Bridge up to all hours of the night…" She counted off the reasons on her fingers.

"I'm not avoiding you." Sky said lamely.

"Yes." She retorted. "You are."

"No-" He was cut off by a frantic pawing at Syd's door.

Sydney glared at him and moved to the door "That's R.I.C." Sky sighed in relief; for once he was glad Sydney had gotten the bucket of bolts upgraded. The blonde girl smiled as the metal canine stopped in front of her. She patted it fondly on the head. "Hi, boy." The dog yapped happily at her. "I need you to show Sky the footage of today's battle."

The dog barked again and started projecting the fight onto Syd's bedroom wall. "I've seen this part." Sky said of Jack and Bridge getting on their bikes. The footage fast-forwarded until Sky held up his morpher to judge the monster. "Stop." The footage slowed to normal speed and Sky began watching earnestly.

Then there was the scream "Ry!" It was Sydney, she was screaming at her cousin, who was completely surrounded by Krybots, but she was running in the opposite direction. Sky watched as Sydney launched herself at him, pushing him out of the way as one of the Krybots shot at him. The beam narrowly missed the pink ranger, as she rolled out of the way.

There was a huge explosion as several Krybots fired at Ryder at the same time. He jumped straight up into the air, missing the beams, but he didn't avoid the explosion. He was caught by the blast and thrown violently into the pavement of the road.

He didn't really pay attention as the battle raged on and Z managed to capture the monster in a containment card. "Sky?" The blue ranger blinked as Syd snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Sky?"

"What?"

"Are you okay?" She looked at him worriedly, "You were just staring into nothing-"

"You chose me."

"What?" She was the one who was confused now.

"Ryder and I were both in trouble… but you chose me."

"Of course I did."

"But why? I mean; he's your cousin. He's family. You love him."

"Of course I do, but I love you too."

"But-"

Syd shook her head, but a grin tugged at her lips, "That's what this whole thing has been about…" She stroked his cheek lightly. "You were jealous."

"No-"

She shook her head again. "Yes you were." Her smile widened "It makes so much sense now." She kissed him softly. "I love you, Sky. I choose you. I always choose you. Always."

Sky stared into her eyes and was shocked at the depth of emotion he saw there. He smiled slowly and pulled Sydney against him. He placed his hands on either side of her face and kissed her passionately.

* * *

Bridge tightened his grip on Z's hand as they walked past her room. _Realization. Elation. Adoration. Love._ "Finally." 


End file.
